Coaches, here’s the number one reason it pays to employ a consultative coaching method: Coaching is modeling. What do I mean by this? Coaching = Modeling When you Engage reps and start with their needs, you’re modeling the consultative sequence you want reps to follow – start with the Real Needs, not your assumptions. When […]
Industry Insights, Sales Enablement Insights, Sales Training
You Need Flipped Sales Training – Here’s How to Do It
The flipped classroom is a hot topic in education today, to the point you would think it’s a new phenomenon. While credit for the origin of today’s flipped classroom goes back to a couple of high school teachers in 2007, technology has been transforming and upending the learning process since the invention of writing – […]
Sales Development System, Sales Enablement Insights, Sales Training
Smarter Sales Training Starts with Smarter Learning Objectives
Once upon a time, a private company in the aviation industry approached us because the VP of sales wanted “closing skills training.” His evidence: CRM data showing abnormally long sales cycles for their industry, plus personal experience in the field with sales reps following up but not closing. We came into the situation after the […]
Acronyms are useful devices for visualizing and remembering information. And I’ve made a career out of helping clients turn complex data sets into easily retrievable nuggets. And frankly, at times that’s involved some Procrustean hacking as I attempted to make the data fit the acronym. In this case, it’s the opposite: This is one of […]
Sales Enablement Insights, Sales Management, Sales Training, Uncategorized
It’s Time to Transform Sales Training
The sales training industry is way overdue for transformation. How we know? First, we’re veterans of the sales training industry, and we’ve both spent time on the inside of multiple sales training vendors. And we’ve found the vast majority of client engagements last two years or less. Second, most companies who invest in sales development […]
Sales Development System, Sales Enablement Insights, Sales Training
Getting More From Sales Training: Three Strategies and A Bobsled Analogy
Companies spend a massive amount of time, energy, and money on sales training, only to find the vast majority of the effort wasted. If you’ve ever been to sales training where the manager or facilitator exhorts sellers to take “one good idea” from an entire day (or two) of training, you know the story. Why […]
How’s this for a Mission Statement? Specialized Sales Systems exists to help companies build their own specialized sales systems that drive revenue growth. Breakthroughs in technology and process make this process better and cheaper than traditional sales training. It sounds clear to us, but as Matt McDarby and I began sharing our message with the […]
Industry Insights, Sales Development System, Sales Enablement Insights, Sales Process, Sales Tools
What is a Sales Development System?
What is a Sales Development System? If you’re unfamiliar with the term “Sales Development System,” it may be because the sales training discipline historically suffers from a lack of systems thinking! Now is the time to familiarize yourself. Systems thinking is required if you need your sales force to take results to the next level. […]
Today we’re talking about talking heads, and how to manage a traditional – and limiting – staple of the sales meeting. In my last article, we looked at the unique value of sales meetings – the chance for sellers to: Interact with the company Learn from each other Practice their craft These are active, lab-type […]
What do BYO sales training and hockey have in common? This video highlights a couple of key areas where the lessons of the hockey rink apply to sales training development. In particular, pay attention to these elements: Are you giving your sellers enough time on the “practice ice”? BYO Sales training relies on a controlled […]